Thinking Outside the Traditional St. Patrick's Day Decorating Box

Though I’m not of Irish decent, I LOVE St. Patrick’s Day! I love that it is a holiday everyone seems to enjoy being a part of, I love that it means spring is on its way, and I love the bursts of bright green color everywhere!

What I do struggle with each year is how to decorate my home in a fun and festive way BUT also in a stylish way. It’s very hit or miss at the local craft stores/grocery stores and it seems all I see are green-tinseled shamrocks and oddly creepy leprechauns.

This year I decided to scour the Internet and see what great and fresh St. Patrick’s Day decorations I could use as inspiration for my own home. My goal is to infuse stylish shades of green color to create a fresh, relaxing and festive look as well as think outside the “standard” St. Patrick’s Day decorating box.

Front door wreaths are big for me – they are the opening and welcome point for your home. Right now my poor front door looks dull and boring after Christmas and stays dull-looking usually until spring. I am thrilled to see some great options to help fill the gap! Though some examples are homemade (not everyone has the crafty gene), they are stylish and can easily be re-created and used year after year.

Another important showpiece for my home is the mantel and the kitchen table.  We spend a lot of time in our family room and kitchen I really love to showcase each holiday with a themed décor.  What I love about these three examples is that they look like ideas that my 9-year old son can help me create.  What kid doesn’t love a staple gun, paint and glue?

And it’s always big for me to have one classic piece - you can never go wrong with a good table-runner. You can use a good table-runner as the underlay for any festive home décor.

Celtic Table-Runner in Cream or Sage

I’m anxious to see how my newly crafted plan for St. Patrick’s Day decorating turns out. I would love to see any great ideas you have for St. Patrick’s Day decorating! You can post to our Facebook page and hopefully help inspire me and others!

Contributed by: Heather Hadfield (Dietrich), Sterling Pear

New Year's Resolutions - Resolving to Keep Your House Clean? Impossible? NO!

If you’re like me you’ve spent the past three weeks taking down all the holiday decorations and also noticing all of the things that need to be done around the house. You go to take down garland and think, “I clearly haven’t dusted this bookshelf in a long time”. Or, you follow the trail of pine needles only to be reminded that the floor beneath the couch is suffering from serious neglect. This year, we’ve got a New Year’s resolution for you that is easy to follow and comes with a great incentive.

First the resolution. We officially declare 2014 the "Year of the Clean House"! Sound boring? It’s not! Because I love to decorate I decided to think of this resolution less as cleaning and more as maintaining a well-kept backdrop for my keepsakes and during the holiday season, my decorations. Now, this where the incentive comes in. For every month that you stick to your cleaning schedule, you get to reward yourself with something new for your home! If you’re anything like me keeping the clean house  resolution will be its own incentive!

Every time I think of cleaning I get SO tired and feel completely overwhelmed so I decided to make an itemized spreadsheet. I divided the house into separate areas each with their own individual sub-areas as the focus for deep cleaning one week of the month. Then, I divided up the different chores for each area so that one job is assigned to each day of the week.  Sound confusing? It's not and here is an example of how it works:

Area: Living Room

• Monday:  Floors
• Tuesday:  Dusting
• Wednesday: Windows
• Thursday: Tables/Lamps/Fans
• Friday: Sofa and Chairs

For a 1300 square foot house, that breaks down to about an hour’s worth of cleaning a day. It’s doable!  But don’t beat yourself up if there is a day that just doesn’t work with the schedule. It’s life and it happens.  Plus, there is always tomorrow!

Contributed by: Terrie Petree for Sterling Pear